Macron calls on political, social and business leaders to help end protests

'Emmanuel Macron has called on all political, social and business leaders to issue a “clear and explicit” appeal for calm as France faced a new round of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests which are threatening to destabilise his presidency.

The gilets jaunes have called for further protests, while hauliers are being urged to strike and farmers have announced plans for demonstrations next week. It appears that government attempts to calm the insurrection by freezing a proposed fuel tax rise are failing.

Speaking to the Assemblée National on Wednesday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told MPs: “Emmanuel Macron asks all the political and union organisations as well as business leaders to issue a clear and explicit appeal for calm.”

Griveaux added: “What we are living through is no longer political opposition, but opposition to the Republique.”

Earlier in day, Griveaux said the French government would consider reintroducing taxes on the most wealthy in what is seen as a further measure to appease the protesters.

Lifting part of the impôt de solidarité sur la fortune (ISF, solidarity tax on wealth) was a pillar of Macron’s election campaign and one of the first fiscal measures he implemented on taking power in May 2017, leading to his nickname “president of the rich”.

On Wednesday, as gilets jaunes vowed to continue protests that have seen parts of Paris in flames and violent clashes with police, the government’s spokesman Griveaux admitted ISF could be reimposed.

“If the measure we have taken doesn’t work, we’re not idiots, we’ll change it. But first we will have to evaluate it,” Griveaux told RTL radio, adding that the evaluation would happen next year.

Reintroducing the wealth tax has been one of the demands of parts of the gilets jaunes movement that grew out of anger at rising taxes on petrol and diesel.

The government has been forced into a change of direction after last Saturday’s scenes of running clashes with police, torched cars and buildings, and smashed shop fronts in one of Paris’s most exclusive areas, as well as damage to the Arc de Triomphe in a third week of protests.'